hobbs



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1. .y t A.G.Ho1s12"s.v j Y Machine for Uncapping Cartridge 811.9115. 10.242,775. Patented June' 14, |881.

-Fzjgur I.

(No Model.)

` 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. C.. HOBBS. Machine for Uncapping Cartridge Shells. No. 242,775.

Patented" 1un,e.|4, |881.

Fig/me Z @New (No Model.) 4 sheets-sheet 4.

. A.A C. HOBBS. 1 Machinefor. Uncapping Cartridge Shells.

Nc. 242 ,775. Patented Juana v1.4, 1881.

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y UNITED STAJFES ATENT OFEICE.

ALFRED C. rIoBBs, OF BEIDCEPOET, CONNECTICUT, AssIGNOE TO THE UNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE COMPANY, OE sAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR UNCAPPING cAR'rRlDGE-SHELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 242,775, dated June 14,18'81.

Application filed February 17, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED G. HoBBs, of the city of Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new :and useful Machine for Removing the Primers from Cartridge-Shells, of which the following is adescription, and which, when taken in connection with-the accompanying drawings, is suicient ol enable any one skilled in the art to practic myinvention. y

My invention relates to an organized machine Operating automatically for the purpose of removingthe primers from cartridge-shells; and it consists of a mechanism for bringing the shells successively under the extracting device, mechanism ihr holding the shells dur,-

. ing the piercing of. the primer by the extracting device, mechanism forholdng the shells during the extraction of the primers therefrom, and mechanism for piercing, extracting, and discharging said primers which it is desired to remove. y

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a side view, partly in section, ofthe machine. when justabout to descend to pierce and extract a primer from a cartridge. Fig. 2' shows a side view of the machine, partly in section, the parts being in the position for the extracting of a primer from the cartridge. Fig. 3 shows an enlarged view of a portion' of the machine, partlyin section, just after the primer.,

has been pierced by 'the extractor.v Figg': shows an enlarged view, partly in section, 'of a portion ofthe machine j ust before the piercing of a primer by the extractor. Fig. 5A show-s a bottom view of the. compound plunger, and

Fig. 6 shows a cross-section on the line E E `of Figgei, some ofthe parts being omitted.-

My machine consists of a rotating'tabla. which may be moved automatically" by the proper mechanism, (not shown,) which table is shown inFigS. 1 and 2, hereto -annexed,at

A. From this rotating table -pins projectup ward, such as have for a long time been in-use,

and upon which pins `are placed successivelyl the cartridge-shells' containing the `primers whicharetoberemoved. Thesepinsaresho'wnv at a a a inthe variousdrawings. .Each iuris provided with an .opening a' through it, sov 5o that when primers are placed. This spring L continually tends/to being removed frQm cartrid ge-shells, which primers contain the fulminating-powder, the accidentalignition ofthe same will not smoke or mar the interior surface of the shell, the flash or llame being carried down through the holes a' a in the pins a and allowed to escape through the pins and through an opening made in the frame ofg the machine at its base, as' shownat a". A series of pins, a, are arranged uponA the table, as shown, so' that as the table rotates the attendant or some automatic device may place the shells upon the pins one byone with their base upward. Y

Projecting upward fromthe base B, and attached tothe main frame C of the machine, is 6 5 a frame, D, as shown in the various drawings, carrying in a suitable slide a compound plunger, which plunger is caused to be reciprocated vertically by the action of the crank F, the connecting-rod G, th -vibrating lever H, pivoted to theframe C a, h, and the short link I, connecting one endrof the beam Vor lever H and the compound plunger.

VThe compound plunger consists of an ex terior yhollow plungerwas shown iu the various igures at J, and an interior plunger, as shown at K. Between the top of the interior plunger and the upper portion of the'opening in they exterior plunger the spiral spring L is 8f. press down theinterior plunger. l The interior plunger is provided with ,two slottedkey'waysf vand at its lower extremitywith a slot and pin on one'side. .The two slotted keyways are shown at j and j. The one shownat j is twice as long as the bue shown at j. Both of the ,slotsj and j' terminate 'at their upperextremities on the same horizontal plane. 'At the is a pin passing through the slot b, for the pur. posel of operating the extracting device, as

will hereinafter be more fullyexplained. The interior plunger is provided witha T-headed key, M, which can slide in the slot'rnade in 95 the interior plunger and-,also in the slotsj and j' of the exterior plunger, and this key is continually pressed toward the right. hand by the spring m, which is attached near the baseof the plunger K. Theinterior plunger -Is slot'- l:roo`

-ted near its lower extremity, as shown in the various figures at 7c. A pin, lo', passes through this slot, about which pin the extracting dep forked, so that formed on the vice can be turned..

The extracting device N is formed as shown in the various gures, the slot 'n being formed in it, and it is also shown as provided with a hook-shaped prolongation, n', for the purpose of piercing the primers to be extracted.

At O is seen the wedge-shaped slotted adjusting-piece, adjustable by the set-screw o, wh'ch operates in connection with the T-.head keyM, as shown clearly in Figs. 6, at m', for the purpose of moving said key when the machine is performing its upward stroke. The slotted wedge-shaped adjusting-piece O is stationary except where the operator desires to adj ust'it, and itis held fast to the stationary portion of the frame in which the compound plunger slides. This piece O is slotted where the adjusting-screw passes through it, and its lower wedge-shaped end is the T- haped end of the key M may be operated by it and pass within the 3, 4, land vforked prolongations.

The operation of the machine is substantially as follows:v One of the cartridge-shells, with the primer to be removed being upon one of the pinsa, as shown for example at c, and being beneath the extracting-device, the compound plunger is, by the crank, connectingrod, vibrating lever, and link,moved downward till the slotted base of the interior plunger, K, strikes upon the top of the shell. This interiorplnnger, K, isv slotted at its base, as shown, the slot being sufficiently narrow to rest upon the. primer within the cavity in the base of the lshell at'both its edges. As soon as the interior plunger comes in contact with the shell c its downward motion is stopped thereby, and thus the 'shell is held very firmly upon the pin, while 'the further motion of the mechanism causes the exteriorplunger, J, to move down along theinterior plunger, K,which is now stationary, and in its downward motion -comfpressin g the spiral'spring L, and,by means of the pin b in the exterior plunger and the slot u in the extracting device N, causing said extracting device to rotate upon'its pin 7c and force vthe sharpened hook-shaped prolongation n' into the primer to'be extracted. rIlhis operation continues until Athe extracting device assumes thel position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. When the parts have arrived in the relation to one another shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the

spring m will-force the key M from the position shown in Figs. land 4to `the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This will cause the key M to move into the lslotj. At the time when the extractor has assumed the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the key has passed into the slot j', the entire downward motion of the compound plunger will have ceased, and the upward motion will commence. The key M, havin-g firmly locked the exterior plunger, J, and the interior plunger, K, together by means of the slots j and j' and the key M, the elevation of the compound plunger will cause the parts to be elevated while they bear to one another the relation shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the 7o primer rising with the extractor, and beingl fastened upon its sharpened hook-shaped prolongation n. While the primer is heilig thus withdrawn from the shell the shell is prevented from rising oli' the pin by reason of, thestop- 75 per P,sl`1own in the various figures,) under which stopper the shell has .been carriedv bythe rotating table A, such Stoppers being commonly used for like purposes in othermachines operating upon cartridge-shells, ing of an L-,shaped piece attached in the proper manner to the frame, and having acircular, square, or other opening through which vthe base of the interior plunger will pass, and through which the shell cannot pass. p

When the operating devices have caused the plunger'to be/ raised up so that' the wedgeshapedl forked end of the adjusting device O comes in' contact with the T-hea'd m of the key the slot j', and as soon as the key is moved from said slot the spiral spring will force the key and the interior plunger, with the extracting device upon it, in the exterior plunger, and will force the extracting device to assume the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4. To allow this to take p l'ace the slot j lis made twice as long as the slot j'.

During this motion the sharpened hook-shaped prolongation n' be turned' or rotated, so as to bewithin the slot k formed in the base of theinterior plunger, K, and in this way the extracted primer will be forced from the hook-shaped end 'n' of the extractor N, and the mechanism will be in readiness to make another descending. stroke. When/the device is in this position, as shown in Fig.' 1, it will again -be moved down, and another pin having been moved under the stop device P by the automatic feed of the table,

and consist- 8o M, the further upward motion of the plun- 9o i ger will cause the key M to be moved ontof downward, moving it withroc. of thelextracting device N will Y IIO the primer within .the cartridge resting upon this other pin will then be l extracted in the way last described, and so on continually.,

I have not shown the device for automaticallyl rotating the table A, but as such ratchet and -pawl devices are well-known'it will not be necessaryto here describe them.'

The machine may be modified, likewise, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The device can be used to extract primers which have beenexploded equally-as well as l to extract primers which have not been ex ploded. I Y

The operation of thev parts isv satisfactory, and the device is simple, requiring but a small,` space in which to. use it, and is not liable .to derangement. y

1 am aware of United States Letters Patent No. 233,317, dated October 19,1880.

What I claim, and desired to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l1. In a machine fox` extract-ing primers from cartridge-shells, a plunger consisting of two centos l e ports, one carrying-nn extracting device pivoted thereto ond constructed to pierce `sind catch the primer, end the other sliding independently connected to the extractor to project end retract the some, and mechanism whereby one part is moved independently ofthe other, and s carrier whereby the'shells are brought successively beneath the plungensnbstsn tially as set forth. V

2. The combination, with the twopnrt plun ger, of au extractor having a sharpened projection pivoted to onef 'ps1-t, and connected to 'the other pnrt tc Vhe Vibrnted hy the sliding movement of the latter, substantially es set forth.

3. The combination, with the two-part plunger, of an extractor having a pointed' projectionv pivoted within a slot of the carrying portion of the plunger, and arranged substantially ns described7 whereby the said projection is carried beyond or drawn within the plunger se the extractor is vibrote ..Thecombinetion ofthe two parte consti-- toting the compound plunger, the pivoted retroctor corrieri hy one part and movable therein by the other, n lock and actuating mechanism, whereby the parte are locked together sfter the primer is pierced and unlocked when the primer is lifted from the shell, as set forth.

5, The combination of the hollow plunger 5o portion J inner portion K, extractor N, having e sharpened projection and pivoted to the portion K, ond constructed to be vibrated by the movement ot' the portion J, end appliances whereby one portion is moved in respect to the 3 5 other substantially as set forth.

' ALFRED 0. HOQBBS. [,L. s.] Witnesses: M mmn. T. HoUeHroN, J. L. PRRAGU. 

